Combined Xperi-TiVo 2020 revenue grew 21% to $1.15 billion, which “far exceeded” expectations, said Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner on a Wednesday investor call. Q4 revenue was $427.8 million vs. $90.4 million in the 2019 quarter, before the TiVo deal, the company reported.

6 GHz incumbents and Wi-Fi advocates clashed about a January notice from the Office of Engineering and Technology on whether the FCC should allow client-to-client device communications (see 2101110031), in comments posted through Tuesday in docket 18-295. The agency is considering more sweeping changes, based on a Further NPRM approved 5-0 in April. Shortly before the end of the Trump administration, OET sought comment on one additional change.

Spotify announced high-fidelity audio, advertising tools for podcasts and its expansion into 80 countries, adding a potential 1 billion new listeners, on its virtual Stream On event Monday. Spotify HiFi will roll out later this year for Premium subscribers in select markets, said the company, saying it’s one of the features most requested by users.

Cinedigm “solidified” its stature “as a leading independent player in streaming, the most important and fastest-growing segment of the entertainment business,” said CEO Chris McGurk on a fiscal Q3 call Monday. “With the cord-cutting shift to streaming still dramatically and permanently accelerating,” Cinedigm is in “a very strong and unique competitive position” to rapidly grow its market share “organically,” and through its “roll-up strategy” of buying “subscale, but high-potential streaming companies,” he said.

Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated proposed rules for the $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program, she said Monday. EBB is “open to all types of broadband providers, not only those designated as eligible telecommunications carriers," emailed a spokesperson. Whether non-ETCs were allowed was a major point of interest, including in recent comments and replies (see 2102170028). One area generating heat now is that the draft doesn’t include a subsidy for smartphones.

Getting a big city “up and operational” with a “beta” 5G service will be Dish Network’s “first major milestone” in its deployment buildout, Chairman Charlie Ergen told a Q4 call Monday. “As we open up our first city, we’ll have problems," he said. "We’ll drop a call. Something could go wrong that we didn’t expect, and then that’s where we find out how our team and our vendors work together to solve those problems."

Virginia soon could become the second state, after California, with a comprehensive privacy law. California. The Virginia Senate voted 32-7 Friday to send HB-2307 to Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who's expected to sign it. Business privacy attorneys are watching New York and Washington as possible next states and monitoring bills in Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Utah, they said in interviews last week. The Virginia and Washington bills are weaker than California’s mandate and would do more harm than good, privacy advocates told us.

Historic pandemic-fueled spikes in consumer and enterprise demand for technology gear are “irreversible, since new ways of working offer compelling advantages in terms of time and productivity,” said Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson on a fiscal Q1 investor call Thursday. “Within the electronics ecosystem itself, key technology inflections are driving increasing silicon consumption.”

Universal Electronics Inc. is having strong uptake of TV remote controls that combine linear TV and streaming channels, said CEO Paul Arling on Thursday's Q4 earnings call. Late last year, the company launched a streaming service controller for Apple TV 4K, geared to MVPDs, that support Apple’s original functionality, including Siri voice control. The remote adds capability that simplifies viewing live content on Apple TV with keys for channel surfing and an electronic program guide, Arling said.

Roku active accounts grew by 14 million to more than 51 million in 2020, and streaming hours gained 55%, said CEO Anthony Wood on a Thursday call. It gained 5 million active accounts in Q4, bringing 2020 active account adds to 14.3 million, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden. In 2020, 38% of all smart TVs sold in the U.S. were Roku TV models, said the shareholder letter.